Soviet football legend Anatoly Ilyin dies at 84

Moscow, Feb 11 (IANS) Soviet football legend Anatoly Ilyin died at the age of 84 here on Thursday.

Striker Ilyin was capped 31 times by the then Soviet Russia (the USSR) between 1952-59 and scored 16 goals. He played for the Spartak Moscow club for the majority of his professional career (1949-1962), reports Tass.

Ilyin scored the winning goal to help Russia claim gold in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics against Yugoslavia in a 1-0 victory. He also participated in the 1958 World Cup.

He won the Soviet Top League with his club five times (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958 and 1962) and the Soviet Cup in 1958.

He was the league’s top scorer twice, in 1954 (11 goals) and 1958 (20 goals).